Pagan Online

Gameplay in this action role-playing game covers familiar ground, calling to mind classic games of this explore and loot genre. For many gamers, Pagan Online's fresh take on fantasy (based on little-known Slavic myth) and colorful graphics make buying it a safe bet, but for some gamers, only its restrictive skill tree and un-intuitive interface could cause buyer's remorse. The first few hours are good fun. You can choose among ten cool heroes (you can test drive them all before choosing) and Campaign mode lets you familiarize yourself with their powers as you progress through an interesting, well-written story. Unfortunately, heroes are disappointing to some degree since skill progression is very linear, meaning hours of using the same few abilities. The skill interface itself is a problem since it's laid out poorly and partly cut off the screen by default. (It can be moved with the right mouse button, but the game doesn't tell you that.) This makes skill buying problematic, since available skills and experience points aren't clear.

Bothersome as this is, there's still fun to be had. For most ARPG fans, it's all about loot, and there's plenty of that here. Completing missions and beating boss monsters results in a shower of it. Between missions, you can sell whatever you don't need, manage your loot stash, or craft more loot by tossing raw materials into what's essentially a demonic slot machine. Crafting's definitely fun (especially since you can reforge items until you get what you want) and collecting materials makes it easier to replay the Campaign and side missions. The game's graphics make this easier too, offering a range of interesting-looking heroes (each with a range of cool alternate skins) and an array of beautiful, spooky environments. Though replayability is somewhat limited by the game's lack of a versus multiplayer mode, the process of unlocking and upgrading new heroes should keep all but the most hard-core ARPG gamers going for a good long while.